lol - She tweeted, following a class visit - they attempted to censor her. She disagreed with the Governor for massively cutting arts funding. She tweeted to her few friends, but now has over 3000 following her. "Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person - he blows alot, was her tweet." His office monitored it and contacted the Youth for Government office. She wouldn't back down, and says now, 'I would do it again.'

My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. I enjoyed speaking to the more than 100 students who participated in the Youth in Government Program at the Kansas Capitol. They are our future. I also want to thank the thousands of Kansas educators who remind us daily of our liberties, as well as the values of civility and decorum. Again, I apologize for our over-reaction."

BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today released a statement following Congressman Barney Frank’s announcement that he will not seek reelection in 2012:

“No one’s ever doubted for a minute what Barney Frank thinks or where he stands, and if you weren’t sure, trust me, he’d tell you. That’s the special quality that has made Barney not just beloved and quotable, but unbelievably effective as an advocate and a legislator. He’s brave, he’s bold, and he’s ridiculously smart. People have marveled for years about what a quick and witty debater Barney can be, but many overlooked his secret: he has a core. He’s the same advocate I met in the 1970s stumping for Father Drinan, only he’s taken that fight and that same sense of fundamental fairness to battles over equality, affordable housing, and fishing in New Bedford. Barney is who he is, no matter the issue. His voice will be deeply missed in the Congress and in our delegation, but true to his word he’ll be taking his perspective to a new arena where his impact will continue to be felt just as deeply.”

Somebody should remind the Republican presidential hopefuls that they are not running for evangelist in chief. Article VI of the Constitution states, "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."We are not a theocracy. The candidates should not be touting their piety.

I’ve been wanting to do some sort of installations inside of the abandoned newspaper receptacles spread throughout our city, so I spent most of Thanksgiving creating a diorama of the UC Davis pepper spray incident which was installed in an empty newspaper bin on Market Street this morning (Black Friday). My hope was to install a piece to get people thinking about recent police violence while they were trying to do their holiday shopping. If I had more time I would have created many more dioramas based on scenes from New York and Oakland.